Tag Archives: lafayette indiana

Anne is a LUM volunteer tax preparer and she had just finished a tax return for a low-income family of four. She was smiling because she just secured for them a $10,000 income tax refund for them!

“There is just no way to understate how much this refund is going to mean to this family,” she said. “This is a real game changer for them.”

Anne and LUM’s many other dedicated tax volunteers, brought $4.5 million in refunds back to 1,390 low-income working families in our community last year. Utility bills were paid. Overdue rent was caught up. Clothing was purchased for children. Money was set aside for college. Families were made more stable.

But the Tax Program is only one of the important ways that the Lafayette Urban Ministry is changing the game for working families and at-risk children during this time of year.

LUM’s new Legal Immigration Clinic is providing expert legal advice and support to individuals in our community who are having difficulty navigating the Federal Immigration and Naturalization Service bureaucracy. We serve 10 new immigrant families each month.

LUM’s Enhanced Afterschool Program is helping to narrow the academic achievement gap each day for 50 low-income children.

LUM’s Overnight Shelter and Case Management Services literally save lives during these cold winter months when the weather is harsh. More than 200 homeless individuals have stayed with us on and off since the beginning of the year. Through case management services, we have helped many of them to leave our shelter for a home of their own.

LUM’s Good Samaritan Program serves each morning as our community’s social safety net. Staff and volunteers help those facing eviction, utility disconnects and other financial hardships to remain safely in their homes. We serve as many as 60 households each week.

Last year, LUM’s ID Clinic helped 166 individuals to cut through the government red tape associated with re-establishing their legal identity and securing a photo ID.

Each of the Lafayette Urban Ministry’s 15 programs is designed to strengthen low-income families or to support and educate at-risk children. In partnership with 42 local church congregations, LUM helps to restore the hope and future that is all too often absent among those who live in poverty.

In other words, our work at LUM really is a game changer for those we serve.

That’s why I hope you will join me in making a generous gift to support LUM’s programs.

Your gift of $50, $100, $250, $500 or $1,000 will support our efforts and make sure our doors are always open to those in our community who need us.

Anne Pellegrino, through her work as a LUM tax preparer, has a special vantage point from which she is able to see and understand the realities faced by the working poor in our community. She knows that most are just a paycheck away from crisis. And she knows how important LUM’s programs are to her client’s’ economic well-being.

But more importantly, because of LUM, Anne is able to share her talents and have a positive impact in the lives of others. And that really makes her smile!

Please, won’t you make a generous gift today to the programs of the Lafayette Urban Ministry?

There are several ways you can give. You can place your gift in the mail today. Or you can visit our website at www.lumserve.org to learn more about our programs and to make your donation online.

Greetings,

PS On behalf of all those whose lives will be touched by your generosity, please accept my sincere and heartfelt thanks.

After over 18 months of planning, copy-writing, and designing, LUM is thrilled to announce the launch of the new LUM website. Many thanks to Sylvia Mohler for her work designing and maintaining the former site for several years.

The new website was produced by the new LUM webmaster, Pablo Malavenda. Additional thanks go out to Wintek Corporation for their technical support and to the LUM volunteer IT consultant, Greg Veldman.

LUM is confident that you will find our new website much easier to find what you need — and to make your connection to LUM more meaningful. The launch of the new LUM website was celebrated this week at a reception where Malavenda was able to share some of the exciting new features (pictured below).

Having a strong web-presence is vital for today’snonprofits — and LUM is thankful to all of those who have made it possible for Lafayette Urban Ministry to have (in our humble opinion) the best website around. Please take some time to browse around our new website soon—www.lumserve.org.

Jim Frantz is the new LUM Maintenance Volunteer with responsibilities for kitchen upkeep, routine maintenance, minor repairs, and handy-work.

Jim lives in Lafayette with his wife, Marilyn. Jim & Marilyn are members of the Lafayette Christian Reform Church and have three grown sons — all like their father, have served in the military — Navy, Air Force & Army. Their middle son, Matthew, was killed in action in January 2006 while serving in the US Army in Al Huwijah, Iraq.

Jim is retired from his work at the power plant at Purdue and his service with the Navy and the Army National Guard.

LUM is controlled by a Board of Directors — one representative from each member church plus a few appointed individuals from specific community groups. The Board meets once a month, overseeing and directing policy decisions, fiscal matters, and programming issues, ensuring that LUM continues to fulfill its vital mission to the community. The board is led by an eight member executive council.

Best wishes and congratulations to the 2015 LUM Board of Directors. A special thank you to the 2015 Executive Council members:

The LUM Good Samaritan Fund Follies is a lighthearted evening of fine dining, entertainment, fun, and great fellowship — and it benefits the Good Samaritan Fund at Lafayette Urban Ministry. The fourth annual LUM Good Samaritan Fund Follies will exceed your expectations. The Silent Auction will be filled with unique and priceless items. The dinner will be fabulous, and the fellowship is spectacular. The local entertainment, AKA Follies, is amazing.

The best part is all of the proceeds go to an emergency assistance fund dedicated to benefiting the LUM Good Samaritan Program. Follies’ details and tentative schedule are as follows:

There is a general informational callout for everyone (past/present) wishing to perform in the 2015 LUM Good Samaritan Fund Follies on April 17th. If you can sing, dance, play an instrument, tell a joke, or have any other talent, this stage is for you. Details are as follows:

Callout for Talent

Monday, February 23

7:00 p.m.

LUM Ray Ewry Youth Center (525 N. 4th Street, Lafayette)

Our LUM talent scouts are looking for people to share their God-given talents for a worthy cause. LUM Good Samaritan Fund Follies is your chance to shine and be part of something very special.

If you have any questions or need more information, please email or call Eileen Weiss (eweiss@lumserve.org | 847.258.4070). We look forward to seeing all of you at the 4th Annual LUM Follies dinner theater on Friday, April 17th.

You may also sponsor an educational, cultural and recreational enrichment trips for the children to various locations like Imagination Station, a local pool, or a theme party (Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, First Day of Spring, etc.).

Lafayette Urban Ministry has a shelter protocol for severely cold and snowy weather. In collaboration with the City of Lafayette and Mental Health America, LUM will provide bus transportation from the MHA day shelter to the LUM emergency shelter on evenings with dangerous wind-chill temperatures.

Due to severe weather conditions this week buses were available to transport guests to the LUM shelter in the evening and back to the day shelter in the early morning.

During the winter months if in the unlikely situation where the LUM shelter reaches capacity there are plans to guarantee that all homeless individuals will have safe place to sleep during the overnight hours. The overflow sites will be located within a three block walk of the LUM shelter at downtown churches or the LUM office (420 N 4th Street, Lafayette).

So far everyone needing the shelter has been accommodated.

Special thanks to ALL of our LUM shelter volunteers especially our bus drivers. Pictured above are Clarinda Crawford and Ernie Haupt, two of this week’s bus drivers.

Last week, LUM Executive Director, Joe Micon, distributed the checks to the benefactors. On hand to accept for Food Finder Food Bank, Inc. was Katy Bunder, Executive Director; and for St. Thomas Aquinas Center, Fr. Patrick Baikauskas, Pastor and Director of Campus Ministry. Hunger Hike 2014 had over 1000 organizations, businesses and individuals involved in fundraising and making donations; over 900 hikers, walkers, and runners; and over 200 volunteers engaged before, during and after the event.

Joe Micon stated that LUM will use the money to support the St. John’s/LUM Food Pantry which provides emergency food for over 2200 individuals each and every month and recently expanded its hours to include Saturdays.

Katie Bunder stated that Food Finder Food Bank will use the money to support and expand existing programs like the Mobile Food Pantry and the Back Pack Program.

St. Thomas Aquinas will use the money to support their mission work in Haiti. Several times a year St. Thomas Aquinas provides opportunities for individuals including Purdue students to travel to Haiti and to provide needed work especially efforts to purify water for drinking and introduce more efficient farming techniques. St. Thomas had the largest group of Hikers and raised the most from donations to Hikers again this year.

Joe Micon gave special recognition to the Hunger Hike Honorary Chair, Sharon Versyp, coach of the Purdue Women’s Basketball and the team for role in promoting and for their support the day of Hunger Hike. Micon also thanked David Kucik, coach of the Purdue Crew and the teams for their support and for leading Hunger Hike each year. Micon acknowledged the behind the scenes work of the the entire LUM staff.

Hunger Hike was a great success and will have a tremendous positive impact on our community and the world. LUM announced that the tradition will continue in 2015 with the next Hunger Hike on Sunday, September 20 with the HH5K Run taking place on Saturday, September 19th.

The Lafayette Urban Ministry (LUM) is an organization of churches that serves as a social safety net for Lafayette’s needy children and families. For over 40 years, LUM has worked to give back the hope, the future, and the self-respect to low-income people in the Greater Lafayette area. We take an active role in trying to change social injustices and improve the quality of life for the poor of Indiana.

Denver Mattress Pledges a Dollar for Every Dollar Donated to Lafayette Urban Ministry and 68 Other Rescue Missions Across the U.S.

You ONLY have until Sunday (midnight) to take advantage of this incredible opportunity to DOUBLE your DONATION to the LUM emergency shelter. During the entire month of November, Denver Mattress Co. has agreed to match all gifts to the Lafayette Urban Ministry emergency shelter up to $2,500.

Please take advantage of this opportunity to double your donation to the LUM emergency shelter NOW. No purchase necessary. Click HERE to participate in this DMC gift-matching program.

Denver Mattress Co., LLC (DMC) is pleased to announce the continuation of their annual charity partnership with Lafayette Urban Ministry as together they continue to help those in need during the holidays.

DMC will match every dollar that is donated to LUM and 68 other missions across 29 states from November 1st until the 30th. LUM is able to receive up to $2,500 from DMC to help support their overall efforts. DMC’s total matching donation is capped at $150,000. LUM will be able to use the donations for the specific needs in our community for necessities such as food, warm clothing, shelter, or assistance.

The Lafayette Urban Ministry Board of Directors was pleased to welcome Lafayette Mayor Tony Roswarski to its November meeting for the purpose of discussing issues related to services to the homeless in Lafayette. In particular, the LUM board was interested in learning more about the city’s planned engagement center for the homeless so that LUM will be better prepared to coordinate services on behalf of our homeless shelter guests and case management clients.

Since its opening in 1984, the LUM emergency shelter has served 10,000 different homeless individuals who have been our guests a combined total of 200,000 times. In 2013, LUM served 636 guests who stayed with us, on average, 18 nights each.

The mission of the LUM emergency shelter is to help homeless individuals move off the street into our shelter, then out of our shelter into a more self-sufficient living arrangement. LUM accomplishes this through professional case management services that last year served 315 of our 636 guests. In 2013, 1,460 volunteers served overnight at the LUM emergency shelter.

Mayor Roswarski thanked LUM for being such a valuable partner with the city in helping to improve the lives of those in our community who have no permanent place to stay.

When asked about the specific services that would be offered in the new engagement center, the mayor said “It depends if it would be family housing, if it would be something for veterans, maybe it’s permanent supportive housing for people who are mentally ill, so you’d have to look at the funding sources that are legally allowed to be used for those types of activities.” The mayor said a location for the engagement center has not been decided on or even if the engagement center will have a location, saying it is possible the engagement center could be more of a “process.” He believes it will take several years before the center is up and running.

Mayor Roswarski told the LUM board that his hope is that the services offered through the new engagement center would have the result of lowering the numbers of homeless individuals in our community needing to rely upon LUM for emergency shelter and case management services.

He also shared that the engagement center would not duplicate services to the homeless that are already in place and working well.

The Lafayette Urban Ministry Board of Directors is comprised of one representative from each of our 42 member churches. Several of those churches are represented by their pastor while others send lay leadership.

Those programs include the Good Samaritan Fund, St. John’s/LUM Food Pantry, Tax Preparation Services, LUM Legal Immigration Clinic, Jubilee Christmas, Community Thanksgiving Celebration, Asset Building Classes, and a full offering of youth services such as the LUM After School Program, 5th Quarter Summer Learning Retention Program, LUM Summer Camp and the Achieve Stay-in School Program for at risk junior and senior high school students.